Echo

Great Lakes groups urge passage of Obama cleanup plan; cite jobs, environment benefits

By |

By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
May 14, 2009

Regional environmental and economic groups on Thursday urged Congress to quickly approve President Barack Obama’s proposed allocation of $475 million to restore and protect the Great Lakes. “This initiative, from our perspective, is the exact priorities the Great Lakes need, and the right amount,” said Andy Buchsbaum, co-chair of Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. The proposal allocates the most money – $146 million – to cleaning toxic substances from contaminated sediments. Other funding would go to keeping out and removing invasive species, preventing pollution, improving near-shore health and protecting habitat and wildlife. The president has not identified specific geographic regions that would receive the funding.

Wildlife

Pheromones in river traps attract sea lampreys

By |

Scientists have found another promising weapon in the battle against sea lampreys, strong evidence that they may win the war against one of the Great Lakes’ most infamous invaders.

Researchers at Michigan State University have begun field tests on a chemical compound that tricks the lampreys and lures them into traps.

Echo

EPA plans to cap cement plant mercury emissions; Industry says limit will push production, pollution abroad

By |

Some of the Great Lakes’ worst mercury emitters may have to put a lid on it as federal regulators recently moved for the first time to cap emissions of the toxic metal from the nation’s cement plants.

Airborne mercury falls into lakes and contaminates fish. Eating too much mercury-laced fish can cause brain and kidney damage, especially in young children.

Echo

Mid-Michigan sewage plant one of seven in Great Lakes states recognized by EPA for innovation

By |

A mid-Michigan wastewater treatment plant worker once discovered what happens when a sewage digester gets an upset stomach. “He sat down to have a cup of coffee and he looked at the window and it was black,” said Jeff Ranes, manager of the Delhi Township plant near Lansing. “That thing actually blew its seal around the lid.”

Sludge ran through the plant’s parking lot, but a quick cleanup prevented any contamination, he said. But that shouldn’t happen anymore. The township recently wrapped up construction on a set of new digesters, part of $10 million project that will increase the plant’s capacity while generating electricity and producing clean “biosolids.”

Echo

VIDEO: Michigan man creatively unravels climate skeptics’ most popular arguments

By |

Climate Denial Crock of the Week video debunking skeptics’ notion that natural temperature increases causes carbon dioxide to rise

By Matthew Cimitile, cimitile@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo May 5, 2009
What can a prehistoric family, a scarecrow and Stephen Colbert tell us about climate change? For Peter Sinclair,  clips from The Flintstones, The Wizard of Oz and The Colbert Report are one way to grab your attention while delivering the science behind climate change. Sinclair is one of thousands of volunteers personally trained by former Vice President Al Gore to educate the public about climate change. These presentations raise awareness about the climate crisis and potential solutions. The 55-year-old nurse and graphic designer from Midland, Mich.

Wildlife

Bald eagle soars off Michigan’s endangered list

By |

After decades of recuperation, the bald eagle population in Michigan has risen to a level that has prompted officials to remove the bird from the state endangered species list.

“In the 1950s and 1960s, chemicals in pesticides had an impact on many birds at the top of the food chain,” said Christopher Hoving, endangered species coordinator at the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Echo

Great Lakes receive $94 million in stimulus funds for port improvements; shippers say that’s not enough

By |

By Matthew Cimitile, cimitile@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
April 30, 2009
More than $41 million in stimulus funding is going towards dredging channels and repairing outdated structures at 15 Great Lakes harbors in Michigan and Wisconsin, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District. In all, the eight Great Lakes states scored $94 million for such work. But shipping organizations are angry that only 2 percent of the funds distributed nationwide went to the Great Lakes states. “We do not think the Corps did a good job of divvying out these stimulus dollars,” Glen Nekvasil, a spokesman for the Lakes Carriers Association, said today. “The Great Lakes are a commercial shipping power, there are lots of people here, lots of jobs needed and a dredging backload.”
Shippers are also dismayed that nothing was earmarked for the new Soo Lock in Sault Ste., Marie, Mich.